Congress
Garland’s message to DOJ staffers: ‘You have worked to pursue justice, not politics’
Attorney General Merrick Garland bid farewell to the Justice Department Thursday with an unmistakable call to its career staff to resist any efforts by the incoming Trump administration to turn the department into a political weapon.
“It is the obligation of each of us to follow our norms, not only when it is easy, but also when it is hard, especially when it is hard,” Garland told hundreds of current and former DOJ staffers gathered in the Great Hall at DOJ. “It is the obligation of each of us to adhere to our norms, even when and especially when the circumstances we face are not normal.”
Garland grew emotional at times during his 15-minute speech. He recounted the work prosecutors, FBI agents and others have done in the time since he left his lifetime post on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and took the far more politically-charged job as attorney general.
Though he made no explicit reference to the looming change in administration or to president-elect Donald Trump, Garland paid tribute to those who worked on prosecuting participants in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. And he alluded to the now-abandoned criminal case in which the former president was accused of spurring the attack as part of a broad conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“You charged more than 1,500 people for criminal conduct that occurred during the January 6 attack on the Capitol, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to that attack, you brought to justice those who kicked, punched, beat and tased law enforcement officers who were protecting the capitol that day, and you pursued accountability for that attack on our democracy wherever it led, guided only by your commitment to following the facts and the law,” Garland said.
Among those who praised Garland’s tenure Thursday was outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray. “Your leadership and your values have never wavered,” Wray said, presenting Garland with the kind of Tommy gun once used by agents.

The attorney general’s parting appearance came after two days of Senate confirmation hearings for his likely successor, Pam Bondi. During those sessions, Republican senators and Bondi herself painted the Justice Department under Garland as awash in political influence and bias, saying DOJ engaged in a fundamentally political effort to derail Trump’s 2024 presidential bid — all while violent crime raged in the streets.
It was a starkly different picture than the one painted by Garland and his deputies, who insisted their work had been both noble and impactful.
“The story that has been told by some outside of this building about what has happened inside of it is wrong. You have worked to pursue justice, not politics,” Garland said. “That is the truth, and nothing can change it. I know that a lot is being asked of you right now. All I ask is that you remember who you are and why you came to work here in the first place.”
Congress
White House revises its DHS offer as talks to end shutdown pick up
The White House offered additional immigration enforcement concessions to Democrats Friday evening as border czar Tom Homan met a second time with a bipartisan group of senators seeking to end the Homeland Security shutdown, according to lawmakers who attended.
Leaving the private meeting, Republican senators said they hope Democrats respond over the weekend to the Trump administration’s bolstered proposal of immigration enforcement changes meant to address Democratic demands for funding DHS.
“We need to get the government back open,” Homan said as he left the meeting. “It was a good discussion. That is all I’m going to say.”
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, was in attendance, along with Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
Those senators declined to comment as they left the confab. But a Democratic aide familiar with the meeting said there is “a ways to go” in the ongoing negotiations “to secure the significant reforms that Democrats have laid out for weeks and that are necessary to earn the support of the Democratic caucus.”
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who also attended, said afterward he thinks the group “made some more progress” toward a deal as the DHS shutdown approaches five weeks. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said the White House had made “a very fair, reasonable offer.”
“I think Democrats need to come back to us now and talk to us about what they’re willing to do,” Hoeven added. “We’ve put so many things on the table and put them out.”
An ongoing complaint about the negotiations from Democrats has been that Republicans and the White House have offered their proposals in recent weeks without legislative text. But Republicans offered fresh draft legislation Friday, put together by the White House, according to Hoeven.
He characterized the latest GOP offer as “building” on a letter the White House sent earlier this week and “providing more detail on it and providing legislative text on it.”
Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), chair of the Homeland Security funding panel, said as she left the meeting that a deal to reopen DHS needs to be clinched by next week “one way or the other.”
“There has to be a pathway forward,” she said
The group of lawmakers is hoping to meet again over the weekend, with the Senate planning to be in session both Saturday and Sunday working on other legislative priorities. But Republicans said timing will be up to Democrats, who are now expected to respond with a counteroffer.
Democrats have insisted on requiring judicial warrants for immigration raids, and that remains unsettled, but Hoeven said there was room for agreement over creating “serious” criminal penalties for “doxxing” and harassing law enforcement.
That could help ease concerns about requiring DHS officers to identify themselves and their agency when conducting immigration enforcement operations, though Hoeven said the masking ban Democrats want remains a nonstarter.
“ICE is going to have to be able to wear masks the same way other law enforcement does,” he said.
Congress
Another DHS meeting
A meeting is now underway seeking potential paths for ending the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, is meeting with top Senate appropriators and other key senators. It’s the second meeting of the same group in as many days.
Congress
Another DHS funding vote coming to House floor
Speaker Mike Johnson is planning to put a stalled Homeland Security funding bill on the House floor a third time next week, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss private plans, as the GOP moves to further pressure Democrats to end the five-week closure.
Two versions of the bill have already passed the House, each time with just a few House Democrats breaking from party lines to back it. But the bill is still held up in the Senate, where Democrats have refused to approve DHS funding without adding new restrictions on immigration enforcement.
The House will also vote on a resolution next week in support of DHS workers, including TSA officers who have gone without pay as the spring break travel crush stresses U.S. airports.
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship6 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Uncategorized1 year ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
Politics11 months agoDemocrat challenging Joni Ernst: I want to ‘tear down’ party, ‘build it back up’









